Defining and Protecting Autonomous Work: A Multidisciplinary Approach

✍ Scribed by Tindara Addabbo (editor), Edoardo Ales (editor), Ylenia Curzi (editor), Tommaso Fabbri (editor), Olga Rymkevich (editor), Iacopo Senatori (editor)

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2022
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 270
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This book, adopting a multidisciplinary approach, investigates the definition of autonomous work and the kind of protection it receives and should receive in a global perspective. The book advocates for the existence of genuine autonomous work to be distinguished from employment and false self-employment. It deserves specific attention from legislators in the view of removing any obstacles to the exercise of freedom of association and collective action at large.

The book is divided into two parts. The first focuses on the evolving notion of autonomy and its consequences on social protection, offering a theoretical frame from an organizational, political and legal point of view. The second aims at discovering new regulatory and protective horizons for autonomous work, in the light of blockchain, platform work, EU Competition Law, social security and liberal professions. Finally, the authors offer insights and recommendations on how to protect work beyond categories.

✦ Table of Contents

Contents
Notes on Contributors
List of Figures
List of Tables
1: Introduction
References
Part I: Introduction
2: Autonomy in and Outside the Employment Relationship: An Organizational Perspective
Introduction
The Labor Law Debate
Autonomy at Work: A Processual Perspective of Analysis
In the Employment Relationship
Outside the Employment Relationship
Concluding Remarks
References
3: False Starts, Wrong Turns, and Dead Ends. How (Not) to Ensure Social Protection for All Workers
Introduction
Troubling Issues
Job Creation
Tax Compliance
Basic Facts
Is Self-Employment on the Rise?
Gig Work
Outstanding Questions
A “Double Contribution Challenge”?
Unemployment Protection
Diverging Approaches
Greece
The Netherlands
Concluding Remarks
References
4: Beyond Subordination: Four Arguments
Premise
Sociological Argument
Historical Argument
The Economic Argument
The Comparative Argument
Conclusions
References
5: Employee and Self-Employed in Working Life: Is There a Real Difference?
Introduction
Theoretical Background
Job Characteristics
Workload
Work Pace
Work-Life Balance
Relational Tasks and PC Tasks
Work Changes
Job Outcomes
Work Engagement
Job Satisfaction and Job Strain
Individual Outcomes
Health and General Life Wellbeing
Self-Confidence in Work and Long-Life Learning
Social Outcomes
Extra Work Activities Commitment
Empirical Analysis
Method
Results
Job Characteristics
Workload, Work Pace and Work-Life Balance
Relational Tasks and PC Tasks
Work Changes
Job Outcomes
Work Engagement
Job Satisfaction and Job Strain
Individual Outcomes
Health and General Life Wellbeing
Self-Confidence in Work and Life-Long Learning
Social Outcomes
Extra Work Activities Commitment
Discussion and Conclusion
Limits and Future Research
References
6: Genuine Autonomous Work: Toward a Tailor-Made Social Protection
Autonomous: What’s in a Name
Risks and Events
Needs
Who Cares?
Conclusions
References
Part II: At the Boundaries of Labour Law: Discovering New Regulatory Horizons of Autonomous Work
7: Introduction to Blockchain: Between “Autonomisation” and Automatization, Challenges and Risks for Labour Law
Introduction
Blockchain: A General Approach
Digital Labour Market and Digital Labour Law: Blockchain and Smart Contracts
Digital Transformation, Disintermediation, Risks
Conclusions
References
8: Abandon Hope All Ye Who (Press) Enter Here. Collective Rights of Platform Workers: An Illusion or Hope?
Introduction: Do I Dare Disturb the Universe?
Mechanical Manager
Constant Tracking of Workers’ Behaviour
Constant Performance Evaluation of Workers
The Automatic Implementation of Decisions, with Little or no Human Intervention
Workers’ Interaction with a “System” Rather Than Humans
Lack of Transparency
Platform Workers Unite!
Let the Machines Negotiate
The Limbo or the Light at the End of the Tunnel?
References
9: Labour Rights Beyond Employment Status: Insights from the Competition Law Guidelines on Collective Bargaining
Introduction
Digital Transition and a Changing World of Work
Platform Work
Labour Market Monopsonies
Rediscovering the Normative Function of Labour Law
The Emancipatory Rationale
A Paradigm Shift
Commission Guidelines on Competition Rules and Collective Bargaining
The Background
Towards the Regulatory Relevance of the Imbalance in Bargaining Power?
Final Remarks
References
10: Social Security for Self-Employed in EU Law: A Minimum-Level Playing Field?
Introduction
Self-Employment and Social Security Coverage?
The Recent Acquis Communautaire in the Field of Social Security
Is There Any Place for a Binding Solution?
A Directive on Minimum Requirements: Art. 153, para. 2, TFEU
The Complicated Recourse to the Flexibility Clause
Concluding Remarks
References
11: Income Support Policies for “Weak” Liberal Professionals: A Pathway for Coordinated Conditions in a Common Market?
The Income Support Issue for Liberal Professionals in Europe: A Real Need?
Supporting Liberal Professionals on the Market: From Tariffs to More Structured Juridical Frameworks
Italy: A “Fair” Blanket for Exploited Liberal Professionals
Spain: Even Liberal Professionals May Become Economically Dependent
France: A Collaborator in a Professional Firm Is Not a Self-Employed Like Everyone Else
Public Benefit Schemes: Liberal Professionals Swinging Between No Coverage and the Newcomb’s Dilemma
The EU Dimension: From Antitrust Issues to a Pathway for a (Possible) Coordination
Conclusions
References
12: Conclusion: Protecting Work, Beyond Categories
Autonomy: A Concept of Growing Complexity
Regulating Complexity
Protecting Work: (A) The Self-Employment Perspective
Protecting Work: (B) The Subordinate Employment Perspective
Index